Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a static charge removal connector to make an electric connection between two printed circuit boards or other electrical parts.
Board-to-Board electric connectors have been widely used, and some electric connectors have been equipped with static change removal means to prevent the flow of static electricity from a person handling the connector to its terminals. An example of such a static charge removal connector is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,495. The connector in this patent comprises a female receptacle which mates with a male plug. The male plug has a plurality of flat male terminals attached to its housing. The female receptacle has a plurality of terminals corresponding to the male terminals and springs on each end of the plurality of terminals with one end of the spring attached to a printed circuit board and the other end in contact with a hinged metal cover. The springs are designed to resiliently contact the inner surface of the metal cover and bias the cover in the open position. The metal cover has hinges on its opposite sides and slots made on its major surface to allow the female terminals to appear above the metal cover only when the cover is in the closed position. Before the male plug is inserted in the female receptacle, the metal cover is in its raised open position, thus protecting all the female terminals between the raised metal cover and the top surface of the housing of the female receptacle.
In use, a person cannot contact the female receptacle without touching the metal cover, thus permitting discharge of the static electricity from the person's body. This static charge removal connector, however, has a number of defects. First, providing a hinge to the metal cover on the receptacle housing requires manufacturing techniques too complicated to be performed by machine thereby requiring labor intensive manufacturing techniques. Second, the moving parts of the electric connector are liable to be worn by friction, thereby shortening the life of the device. Third, the electric connector in its open position permits the inadvertent touching to the sides of the female terminals by hard objects or dust under the cover, thus causing deformation or contamination of contact surfaces resulting in incomplete electric connections. Fourth, the electric connector does not allow for variations in dimensions in the printed circuit board and or the housings to which the connectors are mounted while still providing electrical contact.